More organic vegetables needed

It is with a burning desire that I write to you about the need to ensure that there are more organic vegetables on the market. With the growing occurrence of food-related diseases in Jamaica and around the world, there is an urgent need to start eating healthy to avoid cardiovascular diseases as well as other food-related illnesses.

There is a need to start eating more vegetables, but eating vegetables containing too much fertilisers and pesticides is not a healthy option. It is without a doubt that fast foods and fatty and sugary foods are not healthy for the human body, but neither is eating vegetables that contain too many chemicals from fertilisers and pesticides.

Since these last two years, I have found that I am not able to consume callaloo or pak choi without it running straight through me and into the toilet. I have observed this reoccurrence on several occasions before I started to ask questions.

The responses that were repeatedly given by the vendors in the market are that vegetables contain too much fertiliser.

On speaking with my grandmother, who is a farmer, I asked about why her vegetables, specifically callaloo, tasted better and healthier than the ones I purchased in the market, and her reply was that it was because her callaloo and other vegetables were organically grown.

Another incident I can recall recently is that of my pursuit to purchase cabbage. I specifically told the market vendor I wanted a green, leafy cabbage because I wanted one that was healthy and filled with iron. Her response was, “These green ones nowadays are filled with too much fertilisers”.

This drove a certain fear into me to contemplate what I purchase. If we cannot get healthy fruits and vegetables from the market, then from where can we get it?